Eastern Cardinal
by Scion of Darkness
Summary: Jarek is an unusual yoshi, with a startling difference from the others that has left him the subject of much scorn. But when a mysterious dark pressence threatens peace in the Mushroom Kingdom, he may finaly get his chance to shine.


Disclaimer: I don't own Mario Brothers or any of it's characters. Short and sweet.  
  
Chapter 1 Blood rain and dark birth  
  
Absolute blackness blanketed the land as though some great, jealous beast had reached up and stolen the very moon and stars from the sky. The same beast seemed even to have snatched up the creatures of the field, for not a sound could be heard from the living. Only the sound of the wind and the falling rain filled the plains, a ghastly, unearthly hissing moan that sounded as some hellish chorus of the souls of the damned come back from beyond the grave, foolishly seeking to haunt the absent living.  
  
But, suddenly, a sound split both the air and the nightmarish cacophony. A single, long, low, sorrowful cry rent them both in twain, intermingled with equal parts pain and exhaustion as though the poor, wretched creature that made the sound were on it's last leg of life. Indeed, as a single fork of lightning jagged across the sky, illuminating the outcryer, it seemed she was, indeed, thus.  
  
It was a female yoshi, her hide the same clear, brilliant blue sky had been mere hours before. Blood dribbled mercilessly from her mouth and from the long, narroy gash that split her entire front. The cut was shallow and meant nothing, though the rain had used it to wash away much of her blood before she took shelter beneath this tree. There was no mistaking, however, the graveness of whatever wound brought forth the blood from her mouth. It seemed certain that she would soon surely die. She hoped only to make it through her current ordeal.  
  
An ordeal she, indeed, had for, even as she sat beneath the tree, the barest bottom edges of an egg protruded forth from her body as she struggled ardently to push the thing out from inside of her.  
  
This egg was not any of the various forms of false eggs produced by her species. Even now, the thing bore the developing body of an infant yoshi.  
  
A long, exhausting process followed as the egg slowly worked it's way, inch by inch, out from it's mother's body. But, at long last, exit it did. The object dropped swiftly and silently the last couple inches to the ground where it landed softly, unharmed, in the grass.  
  
The blood she lost from what she'd just done, combined with what her wounds had already taken, almost seemed too much, because even as she fought to stand up, a heavy-handed bout of dizziness fought to force her back down. But she was stalwart. Never having been one to give up easily, she stood defiantly until the dizziness had ebbed enough to do what she needed to.  
  
Quickly, the new mother dipped and snatched up the egg as if she were a squirrel and the egg a nut to be added to her pre-winter stockpile. Except that a squirrel would have casualy tossed the nut in it's mouth and ran off at a rate aproaching insanity. She held the egg in her arms. She cradled the thing gently as though it were the most precious thing in the world. The only thing she would have done to immitate the squirrel further would have been the running, but as she was hardly in a position to move at any speed even close to approaching break-neck, even that she did not do.  
  
Instead, she worked her way slowly forward, inching along and ignoring the rain's renewed assault upon her wounds, until she came to a warp pipe. It took her several minutes to climb up the thing with her load in tact, but, at last, she managed it and let herself fall into the tube.  
  
Seconds later, she was spat out the other end of the tube into a wide, open, grassy feild. The tall, umkempt grass was lit up magnificently by the overhead full moon and star-filled sky.  
  
The yoshi allowed herself a moment of awe at the abrupt change of weather before she continued to press onward. As she passed them, the various small creatures gazed at her. They seemed to pity her and wish to help, but they had no idea what this strange guest was trying to do and had little strength for whatever she needed. So they merely watched hoping somebody bigger and stronger would come to her aid.  
  
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound to her right. She turned her head only briefly to look where she saw a wave of grass being swished aside only to snap back as the creature moving through the grass passed by. The creature, whatever it was, would be meeting her at the point where their paths intersected.  
  
With a snort, she turned back to face forward and continued on, undaunted.  
  
When the thing met with the marching mother, it was revealed to be an adult human male dressed in average, every-day clothing. Both creatures stopped.  
  
The human cocked his head slightly to one side as he examined this new stranger. The yoshi stood stock still and defiant, refusing to show her fear should this turn out to be an enemy.  
  
But the man smiled as he turned his head back to a normal position."So," he said kindly, a soft twinkle in his eyes, "you're one of those yoshi creatures the royals and Mario brothers respect so much! I'm honored to-" But he cut himself off with a gasp of shock as the yoshi turned to face him, revealing her wounds. Gone was his friendly look, replaced by horrified concern. With this new expression, he exclaimed "Oh my god! You need a healer, I've got to help you!"  
  
With this, he scooped the yoshi up in his arms and began to run full tilt back the way he'd just came. The grass flashed by at an incredible rate.  
  
The yoshi knew not a word of English and, thus, had no idea what was going on. Far from having the strength to resist, she simply resigned herself to whatever fate the man had in store.  
  
Several minutes and ten miles later, the man was rapidly approaching Princess Peach's Castle. The yoshi blinked in mixed surprise and confusion. This was exactly where she'd been trying to go!  
  
Voices shouted from the top of the drawbridge (which had been installed shortly after the incident where Bowser trapped the princess in her own castle), their words clearly discernable in the weatherless air.  
  
"What's that coming from the north?"  
  
"I don't know, it's hard to-It's Leanord! He's one of our soldiers!"  
  
"Lower the drawbridge!"  
  
As the drawbridge began to descend, the shouts continued.  
  
"What's that he's carrying?"  
  
"I don't know, it's hard to make out...."  
  
"It looks like a giant lizard."  
  
"It's a yoshi!"  
  
"Holy shit, she's hurt bad! Wake up the healers immediately! Get them to the hospital wing!"  
  
"Right, boss. You and Jack stay here, Harris and I'll go take care of it!"  
  
As Leanord and the yoshi shot across the drawbridge, through the courtyard, and down the halls, news of their approach could be heard hurrying ahead of them.  
  
Leanord finaly reached the hospital wing. He kicked the door open and hurried in, ignoring the various outcries of the patients already in the great, cavernous room. He rushed to the nearest unoccupied bed and only there did he hesitate.  
  
He couldn't put her on her back. She would be uncomfortable. He couldn't put her on her front. Apart from being even more uncomfortable, this would bring her wounds in contact with the sheets.  
  
He gently lay her down on her side. Then, he stood there, hovering over her like a nervous man over his wounded lover.  
  
It seemed hours before the healers finaly came. But, at last, they arrived and Leanord relaxed a bit.  
  
For several seconds after they spotted their patient, the healers just stood there and stared, frozen in shock. Then, the most stern-looking of the mushroom-headed people turned to Leanord and, with an icy glare, spat "What the hell happened to her?!?!"  
  
The soldier paused a moment to push back his annoyance before curtly answering "I don't know, I just met her in the feild. She was like this when I found her."  
  
The healer took a quick glance back at the yoshi before rounding on Leonard again. "That egg she's holding," he pressed, "is it hers?"  
  
The soldier's response was precisely the same as it had been to the last question. Except that, this time, the moment he had finished speaking, there was a disturbance behind the healer.  
  
The quarreling men turned to see another healer attempting to take the egg from it's mother, who stubbornly refused to let go.  
  
The second healer, in her most soothing voice, said "Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to this egg."  
  
The yoshi acidly spat something in her native tongue, spraying the healer's hands in a mixture of spittle and blood.  
  
"That's their word for princess." Leanord exclaimed as the healer went to wash her hands, glad his years of studying the Yoshian language were finaly paying off.  
  
The soldier hurried over to the young mother and the two of them conversed for several minutes in rapid Yoshian.  
  
Finaly, Leanord turned to the gathered healers with a grave look. "Well," he said in a would-be-casual voice, "she says she won't let go of the egg until she's certain that it's in Princess Peach's care. I tried telling her I'd personaly insure it got to the princess, but she still refuses to give it up until Peach herself takes it from her. I think I'll go get the princess."  
  
The head healer tried to argue that it was the middle of the night and that Peach would probably be upset, but the soldier was already out the door.  
  
Shaking his head, the man turned to his staff and said "Well? What are you waiting for? Get to work!"  
  
They only needed to be told once. Immediately, they set to work. In seconds, they had her set into a strange plastic device that held her firmly but comfortably laying on her back. Quickly, they decided there was no time to apply anesthetics and that pain killers would probably do-in more than the pain, anyway.  
  
Instead, once the wound had been cleaned out, they immediately set about assisting one particular healer any way they could as she began to practice her specialty. After special braces had been placed to bring the flesh back together, she began to sew up her patient's entire front like so much torn clothing.  
  
Once the stitching up was done, the next healer stepped up as the previous stepped back. He examined the patient's mouth carefully, both inside and out, but couldn't find the source of the blood. Determined to find the wound, he began to gently touch her skin repeatedly, starting at her chin and working slowly downward, moving only a half an inch at a time.  
  
For some time, there was no reaction. But when his finger contacted with her throat, every bit of the bravery she'd been showing this whole time vanished without a trace. The valiant expression, the balled fists, the firm, defiant stance....all dissolved to nothing as she gave a hoarse, gurgling, tortured cry and recoiled from the man's painful touch.  
  
"Shit!" the man exclaimed as he turned to the head healer. "The blood's coming from inside her throat!"  
  
As Leanord slipped back into the room, shortly followed by a distressed- looking Princess Peach, another healer fearfully breathed "If we give her anesthetics, she's dead. If we don't give her potent ones so we can operate, she's dead. What do we do?"  
  
The healers all looked to their leader, the same wordless question affixed to their helpless faces. What could be done?  
  
Princess Peach hurried past the crowd, ignoring their lack of a response to her pressence, with Leanord at her heels.  
  
The yoshi looked relieved beyond words that the princess was finaly there. Without hesitation, she held out the egg and spoke as Leanord translated.  
  
"You have my deapest grattitude, princess. Please, take this. Raise my child. I cannot move on in peace without knowing my child will be well cared for."  
  
Tears welled up in the eyes of both the princess and the soldier. Peach looked sharply away, no longer able to make eye contact. "D-don't say that." she stammered. "You-you're going going to be okay. Y-you can take care of it yourself."  
  
The mother was suddenly filled with a newfound strength. She sat up and gazed intently at the princess with an expression positively pregnant with pleading.  
  
"Please, princess. I'm not going to last much longer. PLEASE take my egg."  
  
Peach looked back to the yoshi and positively shattered from the look. Tears streaming down her face, the princess took the egg.  
  
The yoshi sank back into the plastic device with a resigned, totaly peaceful look on her face.  
  
"Thank you, princess. I can now rest in peace knowing my baby is cared for. I have only one final request. If the child is a boy, let him bear the name of the god of the North."  
  
Peach had no clue what this meant, but she made the promise.  
  
The yoshi smiled wide as she closed her eyes. Only the smile remained as the rest of her body went limp Peach began to sob and all the healers turned immediately to see what was wrong.  
  
Before long, there was not a dry eye in the room.  
  
After several minutes of silence, the head healer spoke. "We have done our best." he whispered in a carefully controlled, neutral voice. "My only regret is that it was not enough. We all need rest. Unless the princess has any objections, I think it best that we leave the preparing for her burial until morning."  
  
The princess wordlessly nodded her head in aggreament to this plan and the entire group left the room.  
  
As Leanord turned to leave, he thought he saw a small movement from the yoshi, some small spark of life. But when he turned back to look, the creature lay precisely the way she had before and showed no sign of movement. With a heavy sigh and an even heavier heart, he followed his fellow witnesses to the night's events. 


End file.
